They rate the journal, not your paper

Journal-level metrics summarise how often a journal’s articles are cited on average. The best known:

  • Journal Impact Factor (JIF) — from Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports.
  • CiteScore — Scopus’s equivalent.
  • SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) — weights citations by the prestige of the citing journal.
Worked example — how the Impact Factor is built
A 2024 JIF = (citations in 2024 to the journal’s 2022–2023 articles) ÷ (number of articles it published in 2022–2023). It is a journal average. Your individual article might be cited far more — or never. Never judge a single paper by its journal’s JIF.

🔗 Learn more (free): Wikipedia — Impact factor (definition and criticisms)

Try it
Find a journal in your field and note its Impact Factor or CiteScore. Then ask: does that number tell you anything about one specific article in it?

Self-check

Why is it a mistake to assess an individual article using its journal’s Impact Factor?

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Última modificación: jueves, 4 de junio de 2026, 12:48